Wastewater from textile industries is a potential source of organic dyes in natural water bodies. Environmental concerns of chemical methods for removal of dyes from wastewater are no more a viable solution, and there is growing concern to develop alternative approaches such as green chemistry and phytoremediation. This study reports the removal of organic dyes from wastewater using Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms (water hyacinth), as an easily available and fast-growing plant species. Growth of water hyacinth among individual cationic (rose bengal (RB), methylene blue (MB), crystal violet (CV), auramine O (AO), rhodamine B (RhB) and anionic (xylenol orange (XO), phenol red (PR), cresol red (CR), methyl orange (MO)) dye solutions and degradation of dyes were monitored. Results indicated that water hyacinth has good absorption and degradation potential for both types of dyes (cationic or anionic) and effectively removes dyes from solution. Water hyacinth can be used as a suitable and effective phytoremediate for removal of organic dyes from the wastewater.

A field study was undertaken to extrapolate the impact of foliar application of potash and its spray schedule on yield and physical and chemical parameters of sweet orange cv. Jaffa at experimental orchard, Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar. The results revealed that foliar application of KNO₃ at both the doses (2 and 4%) was found significantly or marginally better than K₂SO₄ (1.5 and 3.0%) and control (water spray) in increasing the juice content. Peel content, peel thickness and rag content was found to be influenced significantly due to different treatments on K and its spray schedule. Minimum rag content (38.11%) was recorded with foliar application of KNO₃ at the rate of 4% and maximum with control. Ascorbic acid and acidity were found maximum with two foliar applications of KNO₃ at the rate of 4% in the last week of April and August. Foliar application of KNO₃ at the rate of 4% was found most effective in increasing yield of sweet orange over control and other K treatments. Spray of K in the last week of April, May and August was found superior in increasing yield closely followed by two sprays in the last week of April and August. The findings signify the importance of K spray in enhancing yield and quality of sweet orange under semi-arid north western conditions of India.

This study revealed neutrophil activation in infants born to pre-eclamptic women. The relationship between neutrophil activation and severity of pre-eclampsia warrants further study.

An investigation to evaluate the effect of foliar application of potassium and its spray schedule on yield and yield parameters in sweet orange cv. Jaffa was undertaken at experimental orchard, Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the year 2014-15. The results revealed that the foliar application of potassium nitrate at the rate of 2 and 4 % and potassium sulphate at 1.5 and 3.0 % significantly improved average fruit weight, fruit diameter, percentage of medium and large fruits, and fruit yield of sweet orange cv. Jaffa over control (water spray). The trend was vice-versa on the percentage of small fruits. The number of fruits per plant could not differ significantly due to various treatments. Among K sources and doses, foliar application of KNO 3 at 4 % exhibited superiority over other treatments with respect to yield and yield parameters followed by KNO 3 at lower dose (2 %) or K 2 SO 4 at higher dose (3 %). Among various spray schedules, application of three sprays of K in the last week of April, May and August were found superior or at par in improving yield and yield parameters with 2 sprays in the last week of April and August. The fruit yield was recorded the highest (76.90 kg/plant) with a combination of the foliar application of KNO 3 at 4 % and 2 sprays in the last week of April and August which was nonsignificant with KNO 3 with an additional spray in the last week of May. The findings signify the importance of K spray in improving yield and yield parameters of sweet orange under semi-arid climatic conditions of north western India.

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